ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : BOND TICKER : What Popejoy’s Worth

Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy owns three houses worth more than $100,000 each and collects “more than $10,000” a year from two separate businesses, according to an economic disclosure form Popejoy filed recently with the county’s registrar of voters.

Popejoy said he has “no reportable interests” from personal investments or investments held by a business or trust. Popejoy also reported no income from rental property, loans, gifts, honorariums, commissions, trusts or loans to a business entity.

The properties listed in the filing are Popejoy’s four-bedroom house in the gated community of Belcourt, assessed at $840,000; a $202,000 condominium in Corona del Mar; and another house on Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.

For income, Popejoy said he collects “more than $10,000” from a Newport Beach money management company, Pimco Advisors, and the Pimco Commercial Real Trust, also based in Newport.

Motorola Radio Deal Not Dead

City and county officials are continuing to discuss ways of salvaging the Motorola emergency radio system in the wake of the bankruptcy.

Establishing the 800-megahertz system, which would link all county law enforcement, fire and public works agencies on one radio network, is considered crucial by authorities who consider the existing system dangerously out of date.

The proposed $80-million network was jeopardized by the Dec. 6 county bankruptcy. Officials have been scrambling to find new financing for the project ever since.

Costa Mesa City Manager Allan L. Roeder said Thursday that one idea is to use revenue from Proposition 172--which raised the state sales taxes to benefit law enforcement agencies--to craft a financing package. Another option is for Motorola to help secure financing.

Roeder said the county must begin building the system by October in order to receive needed channels from the Federal Communications Commission.

Schools Get Cash Advance

In what’s becoming something of a monthly ritual, state Controller Kathleen Connell this week advanced $62.4 million in funds to public schools in Orange County two weeks ahead of schedule.

The payments normally are made at the end of each month, but Connell has been advancing the money early for the past three months to help avert a cash-flow crisis at Orange County’s financially strapped schools.

In a prepared statement, Connell said, “The extraordinary circumstances in Orange County require the state to take extraordinary steps to ensure that the education of young people is not disrupted.”

Complied by Shelby Grad, with Jodi Wilgoren, Eric Bailey and Jeff Bean.